Washburn Can’t Complete Comeback Fall to ESU

The Wasburn Ichabod football season came to an end with a 34-23 loss at Emporia State. The Ichabods finish the season with an 8-3 record tying for fourth in the MIAA with a 7-3 record.

Washburn fell behind after the Hornets wrapped up a 13-play, 73-yard drive with a 19-yard field goal by Eli Kuhns. However the Ichabods took the lead with a 6-play, 64-yard drive going up 6-3 after a Vershon Moore5-yard score. The extra point attempt was missed.

The Hornets then would roll up 21-straight points to go up 24-6 entering the break at halftime.

After the Ichabods held the Hornets to a punt on their first drive of the second half, Joel Piper hit Mark Fancher on a 61-yard touchdown strike cutting the lead to 24-13. The Ichabods would then go a 15-play drive, but it stalled deep in ESU territory and Justin Linn hit a 24-yard field goal pulling Washburn within eight at 24-16.

Emporia State scored the next 13 points to go up 34-16.

Jaime Myers returned a punt 85-yards for a score with eight seconds to play trimming the lead back to 11 at 34-23.

Cody Heiman led the Ichabods with 65 yards on the ground while Piper finished 14 of 32 for 223 yard and one score. Moore led the Ichabods with five catches and Fancher finished with a team-high 69 yards receiving.

Calvin Kenney had 11 tackles with seven solo stops and Bryce Atagi finished his career with nine tackles with a 1/2 tackle for loss. He raised his career tackle tally to 355 stops and his tackle for loss total to 36 which are both third on the Ichabod all-time chart.

ESU’s Brent Wilson passed for 362 yards completing 25 of 35 passes for two scores before leaving the game with an injury.